About ESD

Introduction to Static Electricity

In ordinary circumstances, static electricity and ESD are little more than an annoyance. However, in an increasingly technological age, the familiar static shock we receive when walking across a carpet can be costly or dangerous.

This same static discharge can ignite flammable mixtures and damage electronic components. Static electricity can attract contaminants in clean environments or cause products to stick together.

The cost of ESD-damaged electronic devices alone ranges from only a few cents for a simple diode to several hundred dollars for complex hybrids. Loss of production time in web processing industries due to static attraction is significant. When associated costs of repair and rework, shipping, labor, and overhead are included, clearly the opportunities exist for significant improvements in reducing losses to ESD and static electricity.